Shaima Alawadi, 32, was planning to leave her husband and move to Texas. Instead, her husband murdered her and made it look like a so-called “hate crime.” Kassim Alhimidi, 50, was sentenced late last month to 26 years-to-life, as reported at the AP via Yahoo News.
The Iraqi native planted a note on his former beloved in March 2012, which said: “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist.” She “was struck six or more times by a heavy object, suffering at least four skull fractures” and died in the hospital a few days later.
At the time of the killing, the New York Times reported that Kassim Alhimidi said that “they had been called terrorists before.”
“Some neighbors, I say ‘hi’ to them, and they just turn away,” Alhimidi was quoted as saying. “More than 95 percent of the time, I feel welcome. But once in a while, people shout at you. They shout ‘terrorist,’ or ‘go back to your country.’ ”
A “Hoodies and Hijab” rally denouncing “racism, bigotry & hate crimes” was held. There was a Twitter Hashtag.
The Socialist Worker lamented, “But how many people have to be attacked and killed nationwide before acts of violence against Arabs and Muslims cease to be considered ‘isolated incidents’?”
The article dramatically continued, “The war on Muslims and Arabs in the U.S.–being waged by politicians, media figures and police forces, all fueled by the logic of the ‘war on terror’–is what emboldened someone in El Cajon to murder Shaima Alawadi.”
Alawadi’s daughter Fatima, who found her mother as she lay dying, sent a message to her father that was read in court saying in part, “It disgusts me that you made this look like a hate crime.”
Fatima, 18, is now taking care of her two younger sisters, while the brothers are living separately. In all, the couple had five children.
Watch a local news report:
San Diego, California News Station – KFMB Channel 8 – cbs8.com
